| Maxygen Initiates Phase IIa Clinical Trial of MAXY-G34 in Breast ...
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., July 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Maxygen, Inc. today announced that it has initiated a phase IIa trial to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of MAXY-G34 in the treatment of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. MAXY-G34 is a novel pegylated granulocyte colony stimulating factor (PEG-GCSF) shown in preclinical and Phase I studies to have novel and potentially superior properties compared to the current PEG- GCSF therapy. "Patients and physicians have limited options for treatment of neutropenia," said Russell Howard, chief executive officer of Maxygen. "With MAXY-G34, we hope to expand those options and improve the outcome for many chemotherapy patients. During this first Phase II trial we will begin to learn more about how our drug might play a role in the large, undifferentiated GCSF market." The Phase IIa trial, which will be conducted at multiple centers in Eastern Europe, is the first trial of MAXY-G34 in patients.
Substance In Tree Bark Could Lead To New Lung-Cancer Treatment
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have determined how a substance derived from the bark of the South American lapacho tree kills certain kinds of cancer cells, findings that also suggest a novel treatment for the most common type of lung cancer.
The compound, called beta-lapachone, has shown promising anti-cancer properties and is currently being used in a clinical trial to examine its effectiveness against pancreatic cancer in humans. Until now, however, researchers didn't know the mechanism of how the compound killed cancer cells.
Dr. David Boothman, a professor in the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and senior author of a study appearing online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has been researching the compound and how it causes cell death in cancerous cells for 15 years.
Georgetown's cancer killing robot will expand use to anywhere in ...
Georgetown University Hospital was the first center on the East Coast and the 6th in the nation to get the CyberKnife in 2002. Now, with the second highest caseload volume in the United States, Georgetown's world renowned team will be the first on the East Coast to start using a second machine in mid-July 2007. “The CyberKnife really exceeded our expectations, both in its effectiveness and in how many cancers we can treat with it," says Gregory Gagnon, MD, CyberKnife program director. When we first got the machine five years ago, it was used to treat “inoperable" tumors of the head neck and spine. Thanks to the addition of the Synchrony software we added in 2004 and advances in the technology itself, we are treating cancers of the lung, liver and pancreas. This second machine will help us go beyond that to begin treating cancers of the breast and prostate as well." CyberKnife's robot uses a crossfire technique to deliver as many as 1400 highly pinpointed and concentrated beams of radiation, at virtually any angle, to the patient's tumor.
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